Blend High School - Memories Yearbook (Blend, IL)

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 Maxima Historia Omnium Temporum By Margaret Lesko At last our “big day” came when early in September, 1942, we entered the portals of this institution as “Green Freshmen.” How well our eighth-grade grad- uation colors of green and white suited us! There is an old school tradition of initiating Freshmen boys, and our class was no exception. Some of the upper-classmen wanted to improve the custom by ini- tiating the girls, too; but somehow they never got around to doing it, and we didn’t complain. After a week or so of losing ourselves between classes (just to amuse our upper-classmen) we were able to find our way around school as well as any old, experienced senior. Approximately one-fourth of our class was on the honor roll during this first year, and we proudly state that we have been able to keep this record all through our high school days. The person who is valedictorian this year can really be thought of as a “pillar of intelligence.” Since we were only Freshmen, our athletes didn’t make the first team in any sports, but they did partake in Freshman-Sophomore meets with other schools. A foundation was thus started for the winning teams that we now have. Another event which will always be remembered was the Junior play, “Mystery in the Library,” which was sponsored by Miss Toigo and Mr. Sciarra. This was just another factor which proves that the B. T. H. S. produces some very talented people. Not only was the acting superb, but the sound effects and lighting were also very effective. Much to our regret school was over in May and because of the war, we couldn’t charter a bus to take us on a class picnic. But the summer passed quickly and the next fall we were back at school as Sophmores. During our Sophmore year the girls in Miss Gaydos’ clothing class formed a sewing club, The Society of Sewers, more commonly known as the S. O. S. The membership included the present clothing class (Sophomores for the most part) and all other B. T. H. S. students who had taken clothing. Aside from the forming of this club, our school days were spent in routine ways. The basketball, football, and track teams did very well again that year, and a few more tropies were added to our collection. As it is traditional to have a Junior-Senior banquet in the middle of May and to have Sophomores serve, most of us were looking forward to this event in antic- ipation and some of us were fortunate enough to be chosen to serve. Not to be out-done by the Juniors, those Sophomores in Mr. Kasenga’s Latin classes decided to give a farewell banquet in his honor. The class tried to exercise what they had learned during the year by giving speeches in Latin. And then the S. O. S., thinking it was time for a social event, gave a very enjoyable pot-luck supper. Thus our Sophomore year came to a close, but since most of the boys could drive cars by this time, the class had a picnic, which was enjoyed by all. The Junior year was a busy year for most of us. The first few weeks of school our class started to make money for the banquet by selling subscriptions to magazines. We had two teams which were captained by Margaret Lesko and Ed- die Ruffatto with Margie’s team winning by a very small margin. We sold $725.25 worth of magazine subscriptions, giving us a net profit of $274.73. Bill Berutti and Eleanor Denny received prizes for being the two leading salesmen, and all who sold subscriptions attended a show at the expense of the Curtis Publishing Company. We had more than enough money to put on a banquet with the money we received from the sales, but our ambitious class decided to give a play. Thanks to

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 many hours of direction by Mrs. Toigo “The Sour Grapes Club” proved to be quite a success. A synopsis of the play follows: Abby Dwight (Annctta Corgiat), “Petite” Galloway (Darlene Adams), and Grace “Texas Longhorn” Hutton (Ruth Waltis) are three sorority girls who are unable to get dates. Having this problem in common, they decide to form The Sour Grapes Club from which the first who has three dates in succession is to be expelled. All of the girls in the sorority are faced with another problem — that of saving their sorority house from Abel Cheesman (Ray Turcol) who holds the mortgage. They are expecting a Mrs. Pierpont Cole to come to their rescue, but instead a frumpy, redheaded country woman, (Gloria Valerio), who introduces herself as Abby’s cousin, arrives to add to the confusion. Finally Gadget Goss (Dario Cova), the school’s super-snooping press agent reveals her true identity (She is really Mrs. Cole in disguise), and she comes through with the money. Helen Frinsko plays the part of Arlene Terhune, the “snooty” sorority president, who expects' all of Buck Brown’s (Leland Fassero) attentions. However Buck prefers the company of Abby who is finally expelled from the club. Grace who “hog-ties” Gadget Goss and “Petite” who winds up with Humpit (Fred Schwap- pach) are also expelled. This leaves Dottie Marlowe, a fluttery little thing and Gadget’s ex-“big moment,” played by Margie Lesko to Tacky Garnett, one of the football players, played by John Bednar; and Miriam McAllister (Leona Kapusta), Humpit’s “ex,” is left with nothing but a headache. The house mother, Mrs. Carterhouse, who leaves the girls in their hour of need is played by Eleanor Denny. Minor parts were taken by the other Junior girls. The play netted a sum of $88.00 which was added to the class treasury. We hadn’t fully recuperated from the strain of the play when Mr. Corgiat started us making plans for the banquet. The scene of the banquet was a Mexican Fiesta. The gym was beautifully decorated with multi-color streamers, but most outstanding were the silhouettes of Mexican figures which hung between these streamers. As the people entered through the rose-colored trellis, it really gave them the feeling of entering a Mexican patio. Due to everyone’s full cooperation this event, too, was very successful. It was in our Junior year also that our school paper, “The Carrier,” got its start under the sponsorship of Mr. Marcacci. Most of the staff members were Juniors, and so we were able to get plenty of experience which we put to good advantage in our Senior year. Although the S. O. S. club was started the previous year, the girls really started to work this year. A few school dances were given to earn money for a Mother- Daughter banquet, which the girls gave at the end of the year. They also sold Christmas cards, and worked very hard to put on an elaborate banquet for their mothers. It was given the Saturday before Mother’s Day. At the banquet each girl presented her mother with a gardenia. The girls didn’t work all year through. At Christmas they had a party and had a real Santa (Gloria Valerio) who gave each girl a gift and entertained them for a solid hour. These are just a few of the pleasant memories which we shall always have of our Junior year. Most of us came back again in the fall, but we weren’t as happy as in the previous years, because we only had a few more months of school in which we would all be together. Through our four years of school we have lost a number of our classmates. Betty Carney, Anna Tuleck, Bob Raynor, Georgia Kasdorf, and Marie Nacik left us but will be graduating from other schools. Edward England and Frank Kiss decided that they could do more by answering Uncle Sam’s call. Others who have left us somewhere during the four years were La Nora Purdy, Peter Anderson, Dale Osborn, and Dorothy Dannis. The rest of us are graduat- ing here and will be proud to be able to show our “sheepskins” as a symbol of our accomplishments and experiences at good, old B. T. H. S.